I have one question for people in the Republic who said they want a referendum on Irish unity: Are you mad? Northern Ireland is radically dysfunctional, implacably divided and politically shipwrecked; insular and immature to a pathological degree. The deeper story is that Northern Ireland is sinking under the moral and psychic weight of its murderous past, and the collective failure to address the truth of what happened contaminates all attempts to move forward. And they still shoot children in Northern Ireland: don’t forget that. We are more of a place apart than ever.

Source: The Irish Times March 13, 2019 00:56 UTC